Asbestos Legacy

Posted
June 29, 2012 20:45:00

Nightcliff foreshore is one of Darwin's most popular spots to unwind. But residents are concerned about a legacy from the city's past. The cliffs and beach are embedded with asbestos that was dumped decades ago. Authorities are upgrading warning signs and are working on a more permanent solution.

LOUISA REBGETZ, PRESENTER: Nightcliff foreshore is one of Darwin's most popular spots to unwind. But residents are concerned about a legacy from the city's past. The cliffs and beach are embedded with asbestos that was dumped decades ago. Authorities are upgrading warning signs and are working on a more permanent solution. Alison Middleton reports.

ALISON MIDDLETON, REPORTER: Joel and Jenni Mitchell have lived in Darwin for years. They love taking their children to Nightcliff beach.

JOEL MITCHELL: It's a beautiful place. It's a beautiful beach you know. It's a lovely place to come with your family. I've been here for five years, up in Darwin. I come here all the time, I bring kids here all the time and had no idea or awareness that there was asbestos.

ALISON MIDDLETON: In May, Joel Mitchell took home what he thought was a rock from the Nightcliff foreshore to carve. As he worked on it with an angle grinder, he realised something wasn't right.

JOEL MITCHELL: I was just racking my brain to think what it could be, and then it dawned on me that it could be like cement-sheeting and I thought oh old cement-sheeting and then I thought oh I bet that's asbestos.

ALISON MIDDLETON: Joel Mitchell's worst fears were confirmed when tests he commissioned showed what he'd taken home from the beach was full of white asbestos.

JOEL MITCHELL: I was then quite concerned for my family at home because there was asbestos dust everywhere - I mean all over the front door, through the shed, it was a windy day. There was just you know, friable asbestos dust everywhere.

JENNI MITCHELL: Our house had literally become a contamination zone and the kids had been playing there and they'd been walking in and out so weren't sure how much of this dust was in our house and knew that Joel had sucked in a lot and you know so yeah the repercussions were pretty, yeah I felt really sick to be honest.

JOEL MITCHELL: For the last three weeks I've struggled to breathe and you know I've had to have ventalin you know, four or five times a day just to breathe normally.

JENNI MITCHELL: It definitely has triggered asthma. There's no question about that - Joel has never had asthma in the five years we've lived in Darwin. He you know, does have it when he goes down south occasionally but he's never had asthma in Darwin and yeah the doctor's confirmed that it's definitely, literally since it happened, he hasn't been able to breathe properly.

ALISON MIDDLETON: It was during World War II that material containing asbestos was first dumped at Nightcliff.

BRENDAN DOWD, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, DARWIN CITY COUNCIL: During and after World War II the military forces which were in place in Darwin did use parts of the foreshore as a dumping area so the materials that they've placed have been around for about 70 years and just by observation it's everything from bottles through to aircraft engines.

ALISON MIDDLETON: In 1974, Darwin was again ravaged - this time by nature. Cyclone Tracy tore apart homes. Once again, material was dumped at Nightcliff.

BRENDAN DOWD, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, DARWIN CITY COUNCIL: The materials that were dumped after Cyclone Tracy did include, of course, building materials and asbestos was a very common building product at that time.

ALISON MIDDLETON: Joel Mitchell returned to Nightcliff after realising he'd taken home asbestos. He was surprised the signs along the foreshore had the warning about dangerous debris in small print. More explicit signs have since been installed.

BRENDAN DOWD, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, DARWIN CITY COUNCIL: Council believes that the signage that we had in place was adequate. The NT Government have taken measures to supplement the signage.

ALISON MIDDLETON: It's an ongoing battle to manage the asbestos, as erosion further exposes the debris. The responsibility is shared by the Darwin City Council and the Northern Territory Government. Every three months, the council has a clean-up and monitors air quality.

BRENDAN DOWD, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, DARWIN CITY COUNCIL: Well the air quality results have indicated that there's absolutely no impact or no detection of any asbestos particles in the air at the time that we undertake the quarterly inspection and clean-up.

DR STEVEN SKOV, PUBLIC HEALTH PHYSICIAN, CENTRE FOR DISEASE CONTROL: The asbestos containing material that's lying around on the beach in the intertidal zone, just as sort of looking like rocks or stuff like that really poses virtually no risk at all to people as long as people leave it alone and don't do anything to it that might break it up, or cause fibres or dust to get into the air that they might breathe in.

BRENDAN DOWD, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, DARWIN CITY COUNCIL: It involves materials which are embedded within the cliff face, and it also involves materials which are embedded within the seabed there at Nightcliff.

ALISON MIDDLETON: The Northern Territory Health Department referred Joel Mitchell to a respiratory specialist who could not confirm that his acute asthma symptoms were related to his asbestos exposure. Joel Mitchell hopes to be reimbursed for some medical expenses and cleaning costs.

BRENDAN DOWD, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, DARWIN CITY COUNCIL: We have received a claim from Mr Mitchell for some costs incurred to date. We are treating that matter seriously. It has been referred to our insurers and we've asked them to treat the assessment of that claim as a matter of priority.

ALISON MIDDLETON: Joel Mitchell has been told by doctors that he has a low risk of any health effects further down the track. But he's not entirely at ease.

JOEL MITCHELL: And I've been told there's low risk of those with a high exposure over a short period of time, but the thing is really the public awareness - people need to be aware of the actual risks so it doesn't happen to other people.